


Happy Ending

by DreamlessAshes



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Demons are basically vengeful ghosts with bodies, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Hero vs Demon King, Insecurity, M/M, Not Beta Read, Polyamory, Post-Canon, i can’t write angst well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 09:57:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19315825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamlessAshes/pseuds/DreamlessAshes
Summary: After their story has finally come to a close, after their worst misunderstandings are cleared up, Aiden still wonders over “what if.”Luckily, his two wonderful people reassure him that as long as they’re alive, it’d be impossible for Aiden to ever be alone.





	Happy Ending

**Author's Note:**

> This is a post-canon drabble from my Story “Heroism.”
> 
> I wrote this in the Notes App on my phone and didn’t edit it, so... hopefully there’s not too many errors.
> 
> I hope this doesn’t need too much context to understand, but I added some in the notes at the end. Enjoy.

Aiden finished patting dry Hera’s hair. He folded the towel back up and watched the man. Hera was dozing off in his chair, sleepy from the warm water and gentle pampering.

The bathroom door opened to reveal Seraph with a towel around his waist. His eyes were sparkling with energy from the hot — probably scalding to a normal human, Aiden thought — shower. He had soft puppy eyes as he stared at the folded towel in Aiden’s hands. Although Aiden sighed aloud, he laughed internally.

These two people really loved being pampered. Aiden shook Hera a little bit to catch his attention before scooping him up in his arms and moving him to the bed. Aiden glanced back to Seraph and patted the bow empty seat. Seraph gladly bounded towards him.

With both Hera and Seraph still mostly undressed from their baths, Aiden noticed the differences between them and thought back to their younger days.

Seraph was always very lean, but Hera and Aiden were similar body type. Back then, the three of them had been the same height. It seemed that Hera had stopped growing back them and had put on some weight from his inactive lifestyle. He was short and stout, and Seraph loved cuddling with him.

On the other hand, Seraph was tall. Demons tended to be exaggerated versions of their living bodies, so Seraph was even taller than Aiden and very wispy. Aiden supposed that it doesn’t help that Seraph’s true form is literally of a skeleton and all “muscle” he has is just spiders stuffed under fabric. Aiden doesn’t really like thinking about it.

Seraph began to purr a little as Aiden set down the towel to comb Seraph’s hair. Aiden smiled softly at the sound.

Seraph’s human form was like porcelain. He was unblemished and unnaturally perfect. It was to be expected since Seraph’s skin was fake to begin with. Hera was similarly pale, but while Seraph was pale from literal death, Hera was sallow from years lacking self-care and sunlight. Hera still had his freckles though, scattered everywhere on his body.

Aiden was never one to care for appearance, but he couldn’t help but notice how these two had changed so much yet so little.

In a moment of self consciousness, Aiden knew that he had changed the most. Scholars weren’t much different from mages, so Hera looked almost like Aiden expected he would. Meanwhile, Seraph’s body was a mimic of when he was alive. Neither of these two had really changed.

Aiden’s entire life had been flipped around. Sometimes he would sit to the side as Hera and Seraph gushed together in the way they did when they were kids. They really hadn’t changed, only became more mature. If Aiden didn’t know differently, he’d think that Seraph and Hera’s lived had never deviated from the future they should have had.

In retrospect, Aiden would’ve never been allowed to remain beside them. As the hero destined to defend humanity, he would’ve been separated from them soon enough. Hera and Seraph were destined for great things in their careers, so they would remain at home as they delved into research together. Aiden’s destiny was leagues above them. Heroes were usually destined to an isolated existences.

When Aiden learned that he was the Hero, he thought that it was conveniently coincidental that he had joined a warrior academy. While it wasn’t unheard of for Heroes to be mages, most even had backgrounds and talent in magic, it was usually far more difficult for them since Heroes required mastery in swords. Even without magic, Heroes would succeed.

“I can feel the negativity coming off you,” Seraph suddenly spoke. Aiden paused for a second before continuing to comb Seraph’s hair more cautiously. Seraph didn’t turn to look at Aiden, but his worry was apparent anyway. “You’re thinking that you don’t belong here with Hera and I again, aren’t you?”

”Not... entirely.”

“What’s wrong then?”

“I was thinking about destiny.” Seraph hummed a bit, prompting Aiden to continue. “From the beginning, I would have become the Chosen Hero. I would’ve left on the Hero’s Journey regardless of what academy I attended and what class I strived to become. I never had a choice.”

“You were thinking that even if fate hadn’t deviated so wildly for Hera and I, you would still be separated from us.”

“Yes.”

Seraph lifted a hand over his shoulder to stop Aiden’s combing motions. He twisted his body (maybe just a tad too much for human capabilities) to stare Aiden directly in the eyes.

“Aiden, say that we were never attacked back then and that I never died. Say that we lived our lives and graduated as the famous Platinum Trio. Say that we had our whole lives ahead of us just as we planned, then you find out you’re the Hero.” Seraph moved his legs to align with his torso. He grabbed Aiden’s hands reassuringly. “Hera and I might not have joined you, but we would always be waiting for you to return. Just like your mother, mere distance doesn’t mean you’ll lose your place in our hearts.”

“I’ve changed a lot—“ Aiden began only to be cut off by a huff from the side. Aiden and Seraph looked over to find Hera glaring half-heartedly at Aiden with drowsy eyes.

“You might have changed the most externally, but you’re still you,” Hera whispered. “You’ve been so focused on maintaining the facade of a benevolent hero who fights for justice that you’ve forgotten that it’s just that, a facade. Aiden, we’re all assholes. That’s not changing.”

Seraph struggled to keep himself from laughing too loudly. “Hera, you have no context at all for what just happened.”

“I just woke up, so no,” Hera admitted. “But I’m not wrong.”

“You’re not,” Aiden replied softly. He extended a hand to pat Hera’s soft hair. Hera nudged his lovingly, dragging himself off the bed to sprawl halfway over Seraph’s lap. Seraph ran his fingers through Hera’s hair.

“Whatever the problem is,” Hera yawned. “You don’t need to worry. I’m just as obsessed with you as I was when we were back in school. Don’t hate me and I’ll be fine.”

Seraph bent over to place a kiss on Hera’s forehead. As he did so, his eyes never left Aiden’s.

“I’m sorry,” Aiden murmured.

Hera merely waved his heads. “It was well-deserved. The years separated was enough to cool our heads. Love and hate are so similar, it would be easy to accidentally slip between them.”

“Yes,” Seraph said. With a wave of his hand, his partially wet hair returned to perfection, pants suddenly transformed from the towel around his waist, and the one Aiden was using folded itself neatly and flew towards the rack. He pushed Hera back onto the bed, following closely after, then pulled Aiden in too. “We got off track from what you were worrying about.”

Seraph climbed Aiden, putting him in the center like always.

“What was it?” Hera asked.

Seraph placed his head under Aiden’s neck. “As Hera said, when love is strong enough, you can slip into hate. That’s how it was and always has been. Even if we speak wholly on what-ifs, I don’t think I’d ever be able to one day think of you in apathy.”

Aiden, whose arms had been repurposed as pillows, pulled his two most important people closer to him than they already were.

There were a lot more words that should be said, but for now, Aiden would revel in this happy ending.

**Author's Note:**

> Heroism is about a Chosen By Fate Hero by the name of Aiden Ales. After defeating the Thirteen Calamities, the demon lord antagonists of the generic Hero story that everyone will tell their children, Aiden and his companions prepare to end the Hero’s Journey and go their separate ways. Unfortunately, a new Demon Lord suddenly appears from nowhere and their plans are postponed.
> 
> Heroism is told by unreliable narrator #1 Haven Portacaliu who plays the Best Friend Undecover Prince archetype as he watches the ideal perfect hero he’s known for the entire journey steadily reveal his true self as a bitter, apathetic man burdened by a destiny he never wanted and the tragic backstory that led him to learn to play the perfect hero. 
> 
> Aiden used to attend a magic academy with his two friends Seraph and Hera. The three of them were prodigies in their own right with Seraph and Hera being equals and well matched in ideas. Aiden, on the other hand, was a once-in-a-century genius. The three of them were believed to do great things in life individually and era-changing things together.
> 
> As it would be, a Demon Lord had heard of these three and set up a plan to end them. The Demon Lord underestimated them though, but it still separated the three friends in the dense forest.
> 
> So what happened is that there’s a cliff. Aiden was at the bottom of the cliff and hadthe misfortune of witnessing Seraph fall from the top and die before his eyes. Aiden saw Hera standing at the top of the cliff alone and came to a conclusion that he didn’t want to believe. Unfortunately, both of them were too in shock to process what the other was going through and never cleared it up. Aiden left the kingdom without a word to attend a warrior academy, and Hera transferred to a scholar academy. Both gave up magic. Over the years, a steady hatred developed for each other over their decisions (Hera thought Aiden never cared about him and Aiden questioned Hera’s true motives).
> 
> So in the world of Heroism, demons are born when a person dies with an unfulfilled obsession, usually in the form of revenge. Demon Lords are those with the most amount of resentment. 
> 
> In Seraph’s case, his unfulfilled resentment was never getting to finish his project and never getting to see the project Aiden had been working on yet kept secret. Seraph was just a fairly weak demon at first, but he spent years waiting for Aiden and Hera to complete his and their projects and publish them, effectively changing the magic community forever. But since Aiden and Hera had given up magic, Seraph’s building unfulfillment continued to grow. Nine years later, Aiden finished his Hero’s Journey and became famous across the world. Seraph discovers what happened to Hera and Aiden and gets so angry that he becomes a Demon Lord. 
> 
> The latter half of Heroism is Seraph basically beating sense into Hera and Aiden as all three of them try to smooth out their problems.
> 
> So you may think: “Wow, these characters sound really unhealthy.” They are. Even before their “tragic past,” they were pricks to highest degree. Aiden was an magic-obsessed, apathetic prick; Hera was a magic-obsessed, possessive prick; and Seraph was a magic-obsessed, lazy prick. They got along really well.
> 
> That’s what Heroism is for. It’s a breakdown of generic fantasy RPG tropes but specifically the “power of friendship” and “endless forgiveness” tropes.


End file.
